Mutually protected occlusion

In dentistry, a mutually protected occlusion is an occlusal scheme in which the anterior teeth protect the posterior teeth, and vice versa.

The anterior teeth protect the posterior teeth by providing for a plane of guidance during excursions, thus allowing the

teeth have an opportunity to bang into each other during chewing, speech or simply meeting together when one bites down. To prevent this from happening, the anterior teeth of each arch will, ideally, be situated so as to come into contact before the cusps of the posterior teeth do, thus preventing wear on the posterior teeth. This requires less force because the anterior teeth are further from the joint (analogous to stopping a door further from its hinge).

The posterior teeth protect the anterior teeth by providing a stable

forces will eventually cause the single-rooted anterior to splay, thus leading to a collapsed bite.

References

• Davis Henderson, Victor L. Steffel. McCRACKEN's Removable partial prosthodontics, 4th Edition, 1973.